How can I help my 2 year old over her fear of the potty?

Question

Every time I ask her if she needs to use the potty she starts screaming and runs to her diapers and will try and put it on herself. I am lost. I dont want her to be scared of going to the bathroom but she seems to be. I think she is ready to start learning because she will take her diaper off after she goes to the bathroom. I dont know what to do.

She has a pooh bear potty that sings.

Answer 1

You can't force your child to potty train. Each child is different, she will potty train easily when she is ready. What you can do to help ease her fear is actually many things. First of all, have her come to the bathroom with you when you go, tell her what you are doing and when you are finished, show her what's in the toilet and tell her that's where big girls go potty. But do it nicely and encouragingly. Show her how to flush the toilet. This will help peak her interest and help to disintegrate her fear. It will take time, it won't happen over night, but keep encouraging her to gain interest in the toilet. Another thing you can do is put her potty chair, lid down, in the living room to use as a chair when you all are sitting together having family time. Decorate the chair, have her help put stickers on it or paint it together, make sure to use washable paint, even coloring it will help. It will seem less intimidating that way. When she poops in her diaper, take her diaper and her into the bathroom and together dump it into the toilet and have her flush the toilet, do this only when she is ready to flush the toilet without fear. Tell her that's where she will eventually go potty to when she is a big girl. Another thing to help peak interest is buy her some cute panties that she likes, let her pick them out, then let her wear them around for a while, she'll eventually like the feel of dry panties rather than a wet or poopy diaper. But mainly just be patient and encouraging, not harsh or forceful. She will go potty when she is fully ready. It may not happen until she is three and a half, or it could happen in the next month, it depends soley on your daughter. Good luck.

Answer 2

If she is removing the diaper, she is probably ready. Try making potty time fun for her, or atleast enjoyable.

I put a small sticker on my son's chair whenever he'd go in the potty chair. He never let me forget he was due a sticker.

My daughter HATED the potty at first. I either Read a short story to her while she was on the potty, or we would play a short game of some sort. She soon enjoyed the time on the potty, but didn't want to graduate to the "Big Potty", because she missed our time together after she got used to the potty chair.

Answer 3

Well this is what I did with all four of my kids and it worked for me.
Everyone has their own way though.
I put a few diapers away where only I knew they were at and I put underwear on them and if they had an accident then we would go to the potty. They didn't like the way it felt if they had an accident. All of them were potty trained in two weeks by their 2nd birthday.
However every child is different, have you bought one of those potties that makes music when they go?
I don't know if this will help just letting you what worked for me.

Answer 4

Don't force her to use the potty, she'll be ready when she's ready. My child was 18 months old when I started potty training her. I've used every trick I can find in the book but to no avail.
She cries when we make her use the potty, she cries for her pull-ups and as soon as she got them on, that's when she'll do number 1 or 2. When she was 2 1/2 years old, she finally got it. It also helped that she went to a preschool where they help with the potty training.

Answer 5

It's normal for two-year-olds to be afraid of the potty. I worked in a daycare with 20 of them, some potty-trained but mostly weren't. My job was to try and potty train them. Every time I took the girls in there I took the one's who aren't potty trained in there as well.... due to the well she'd sitting on the potty type thing. Eventually... when they are ready they will sit on there by themselves (or ask for your assisstance). Just let nature take it's course.

Also, my little cousin was 3 before she actually started using the potty and when she did she had to go to every stores restroom just to check the bathroom out.

Answer 6

Stop Buying Diapers I mean she's 2 years old! If she really has to potty she would go.

Answer 7

Do you take her in there when you go? It was hard for my son at first, but he didnt like the little potty so we got him one of those toilet sits for kids and he used it all the time. Now my other son is the same way he wont sit on little potty he likes the big potty cuz we have a spongebob toilet seat and he loves it. Good luck.

Answer 8

My suggestion would be not to push her. She will feel so much better about it when she wants to do it on her own rather than being pushed. My son wanted nothing to do with the potty until I bought him underwear. I told him he would be able to wear them once he was ready to start going on the potty. He's doing pretty well!!

Good luck with it and don't get too frustrated.

Answer 9

I have to boys the first very easy to potty train they second not so easy, all I can say is do not push it she will start when she is ready. If you push her to hard she will be harder to potty train and end up wetting the bed later...

Answer 10

Try using a cute potty with her favorite character, and reward her with her favorite sticker. (or she can decorate her potty everytime she goes to potty)